Last week I traveled the East coast from
Boston to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Asheville. Check out some of the great ideas teachers shared along the
way!
Tick, Tick, Tock (Heather Anne Angus)
Tick, tick, tock.
Tick, tick, tock.
What time is on the clock?
3:00 o’clock, 3’00 o’clock (Hold up a play clock as children chant
the time.)
And the clock ticks on and on!
Finger Beams (Debbie McMillan)
You can purchase little lights that attach
to the end of your finger from Oriental Trading. Debbie calls these “ET reading fingers” and uses them to
track words, highlight word wall words, choral reading of poems and songs, etc.
ABC Tune (Marina Attix)
Did you know that you could sing the ABC’s
to the tune of “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”
It’s great because L M N O P don’t end up sounding like “a lemon and a
pea.”
Button Factory Language Unit (Ann Michael)
Ann used this favorite song as a
springboard for the following activities:
Button box – sort, organize, match,
describe
Button fashion show – children wear
clothing with buttons
Button shirt – put a wide Velcro strip on a
child’s shirt. Put Velcro on buttons
and have children put the buttons on their shirt.
Button sweatshirt – teacher wears a
sweatshirt covered with a variety of buttons
and children describe the buttons
Alphabet Remix (Rita O’Brien)
Sing the regular ABC song and then yell,
“REMIX!”
Get the “rapper” attitude and repeat:
I
say, A B C D E F G! (clap twice)
H
I J K L M N O P (clap twice)
Q
R S, T U V, W X and Y and Z.
Now
I know my ABC’s.
Next
time, won’t you sing with me?
(clap
twice - swipe hands to the right)
(clap
twice - swipe hands to the left)
(clap
twice) AHHHHH!
Classroom Management Trick (Alison Barnes)
Teacher: Give me one.
Students: One. (clap one
time)
Teacher: Give me four.
Students: One, two ,three, four. (clap four times)
*You can do this as many times as you want
mixing up the numbers. End by
saying:
Teacher: Give me fingers to lips.
Students: (Put 2 fingers to lips and smile quietly.)
Take a Picture Walk (Lauren Martin)
This activity will help children learn to
turn pages from the front of the book to the back. Use two fingers to mimic walking through a book as you
chant:
Walking
through the pictures.
Walking
through with speed.
Walking
through the pictures
And
now it’s time to read.
Students close the book to the front and
raise their hands to describe the pictures that they saw.
Questioning Strategy (Mary Claire Porter)
When the teacher asks a question have the children
blow their answer into their closed fist.
When the teacher says, “What is it?” they “release” their answer by
opening their hand and saying the answer out loud.
Pick a Letter (Annie Williams)
Use the tune of “Pick a Bale of Cotton” to
reinforce letters and sounds.
Jump down, turn around, pick a letter.
Jump down, turn around, pick a letter.
Oh, Lordy, pick a name object beginning
with letter.
Oh, Lordy, pick a name another object
beginning with sound.
Animal Reading (Mary Baykouski)
Read predictable books using different
animal sounds or whatever theme sound the children suggest.
For example: The Farm (moo moo)
The boy is on the farm. (moo moo)
Transition Song (Sharon Dudley)
Tune:
La Cuckla Racha
Come to the carpet, come to the carpet.
La, la, la, la, la, la, la.
We are ready.
We are listening.
We are ready for some fun, story, math,
etc.
Tune:
All the Single Ladies
All the smart people,
All the smart people,
All the smart people
Come to the carpet.
Sit on the carpet.
Put your hands up.
Put your hands down.
Check out Sharon’s blog
teachingwithsight.blogspot.com to learn more about this amazing teacher!
Candyland Adaptation (Amanda Dalgleish)
Level one - Write the color names on the
color cards.
Level two – Make new cards by writing color
words in the same color as the word.
Level three – Make cards with just the word
written in black.
More Skill Games with Candyland (Katie Spies)
Make Candyland cards with numerals, word
wall words, math facts, etc. Put
harder level words or facts on the double color cards.
Sing and Read (Deb Smelkunson)
Deb found that since the Spanish language
doesn’t have rhymes, it helps to sing a story the second time. She will often ask her students if they
want her to sing it or read it.
(They usually choose to hear it sung.) Sometimes she’ll sing with an opera voice, low voice,
etc. Her students seem to remember
the details better when she sings.
Guess Who? (Gloria DeRusso)
Change the pictures of the characters on
the game “Guess Who?” to pictures of the students in your classroom. You can also use pictures of Presidents
or story characters in the game.
Tattle Stopper (Linda Rossiter)
Pick up some old tax forms at the
library. When children start to
tattle hand them a form and tell them to fill it out and then bring it back to
you.
Alphabet Cookies (Linda Rossiter)
Purchase a cookie sheet and magnetic
letters at a dollar store. Photo
copy the letters on paper and then tape the paper to the back of the cookie
sheet. Color the vowels in
red. Add lines at the bottom of
the paper. Children can match up
the letters and then select letters to make words at the bottom. Store extra letters on the baking side
of the cookie sheet.
Waiting Gemstones (Dawn Corkran)
Let students pick a stone and decorate
it. When they need help they lay
their stone next to the teacher and return to their work until the teacher can
help them. (Most of the time they
will solve their own problem.)
Go Tell Puppy (Yolanda Coppedge)
When children have an issue, they tell it
to the toy puppy in their calm down area.
Eating the Alphabet (Yolanda Coppedge)
You will need upper and lowercase magnetic
letters, a bowl, spoon, and alphabet cards. Each child uses the spoon to scoop out a letter. They have to name the letter, make the
sound, and say something that starts with the sound before matching it to the
alphabet card.
Listening Song (Yolanda Coppedge)
Sing this song to the tune of “Where Is
Thumbkin?” to quiet children.
Eyes are forward. Eyes are forward.
Bodies still. Bodies still.
Voices are quiet. Voices are quiet.
Listening ears. Listening ears.
Line Up Poem (Shannon Walden)
Hip and lip,
Standing tall.
Now we’re ready
For the hall!
Thinking Time (Maggie Silver)
Some children are much faster at
identifying words. To give an
opportunity to all the kids, when you come to a new word point to it and slowly say, “1, 2, 3, what word do
you see?” That will give the
children extra time to sound out the word.
Who Stole the Sound? (Candice Hall)
Adapt “Who Stole the Cookie?” to
letters. Write letters on cookie
shapes and place them in a bag.
Pass the bag around and as children pull out a letter say:
Who stole the letter sound from the
cookie jar?
Child’s name stole the letter
sound from the cookie jar!
Who me?
Yes, you!
Couldn’t be.
Then who?
Magic Blends (Candice Hall)
Write a blend (ex: ST) on a square of paper
and place it in a magic container.
Write individual letters in the blend (ex: S and T). Place these in the container and shake
it up. Pull out the pre-made piece
of paper with the blend on it.
This really helps children to visually see how the sounds come together.
